Coal is thermally pyrolized or distilled by heating without contact with air at a temperature of about 950.degree. to 1800.degree. F. in a coke oven to produce coke and a variety of liquid and gaseous by-products. The liquid and gaseous by-products of coke include, as liquids, water, coal tar and crude light oil and include as gaseous products hydrogen, methane, ethylene, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and nitrogen.
Until about the middle of the nineteenth century, the coal tar by-product of coke was regarded as a waste material but, increasingly, uses have been found for coal tar products. For example, some of the coal tars meet specifications required for roofing and road tars. Other coal tars have been reduced in viscosity by dilution with solvents and the diluted coal tars used as a fuel in open-hearth furnaces.
While others have found uses for most of the coal tar by-products from the coking oven, the coal tar sludges remain as waste products, such as coal tar tank sludge, and particularly a fraction of coal tar known as coal tar "decanter sludge". Generally, coal tar from the coking oven is first received in a coal tar decanter vessel which also receives some fine solid particles of coal and coke from the coking oven. These solid particles settle to the bottom of the coal tar decanter vessel where they agglomerate by binding with coal tar together with other solid waste materials, such as ash, into cementaciously bound solid waste products known as "tar decanter sludge". The useful liquid coal tar is decanted from the coal tar decanter vessel into a coal tar holding tank maintained heated for sufficiently low viscosity for pumping to suitable transport vessels. The coal tar holding tank also produces a sludge at the bottom of the vessel called a "tank sludge", comprising solid deposits of tar, sludge, ash and quinoline--essentialiy all solvent-soluble hydrocarbons.
The tar decanter sludges, on the other hand, include a substantial percentage of non-dissolvable solids, such as coal and coke, which, together with the viscous coal tar received in the coal tar decanter vessel, results in a sludge containing approximately 10 to 50% by weight solid particles of coal and coke with the remainder being very viscous, sticky coal tar and other hydrocarbon materials tending to bind adjacent coal and coke particles together into cementacious agglomerates.
The combination of coal tar and coal and coke solids (tar decanter sludge) remains today as a hazardous waste product which is very expensive to dispose of in accordance with EPA guidelines. While it is believed that others have tried to thin coal tar decanter sludges with oils and the like and others have tried to grind this solid cementacious mass for recycle to the coking ovens, no one has found a commerically viable method or apparatus capable of sufficiently reducing the particle size of the agglomerates or capable of providing a suitable solid/liquid dispersion for use as a fuel.
In accordance with the present invention, a method and apparatus has been found capable of converting coal tar decanter sludges and other coal tar sludges into useful pumpable products such as a fuel, dust suppressants for spraying coal fields, and bulk density controlling agents.